Bridge for violins



(No Model.)

\ J. KOPP. i BRIDGE FOR VIOLINS. No. 388,888. Patented Sept. 4, 1888.

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N. PETERs Phvro-Lnm n run wuhm xm D Q UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICEO JOHNKOPP, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

BRIDGE FOR VIOLlNS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 388.883, datedSeptember 4, 1888.

Application filed January 26. 1888. Serial No. 202.020.

To (all whom it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, JOHN Korr, a citizen of the U nited States,and aresident of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bridges forViolins, of which the following is a specification.

The several features of my invention and the advantages arising fromtheir use, conjointly or 0therwise,will be apparent from the followingdescription.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure1 is a side elevation of a violin-bridge embodying my invention. Fig. 2is an edge elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a cross-section of a violin,showing the bridge in elevation and in position. Fig. 4 is a view of oneof the pieces which when in use are attached to the bottom of thebridge;

The invention is equally applicable to bridges for violins, violas,violoncellos, and bass-viols.

The bridge ordinarily employed has two disadvantages. The bridgeparticipates in the vibrations of the strings and the body, and to havethe instrument perfect, the bridge must vibrate in exact unison with thebody of the instrumcntin fact, should [it so closely as to bepractically part of the body. It is exceedingly difficult to accuratelyfit a bridge to the belly of the instrument, and the slightestinaccuracy in the fit impairs the delicacy of the instruments tone,giving rise to secondary interfering vibrations. Another disadvantagearises from the fact that the bridge is made of hard wood, and wheneverit falls down, the surface of the instrument is slightly abraded (Nomodel.)

by the act of falling and the subsequent act of replacement. In timethis repeated replacing of the bridge causes slight holes to he formedin the top of the instrument, impairing the clearness of its tones. Inavoidingthese difficulties I have provided the feet of the bridge A witha slight thickness of a substance (marked a in the drawings) which issofter than the hard wood of which the bridge is made, soft enough, infact, to make a perfect joint between the bridge and the belly, as B, ofthe instrument, and to maintain the perfection ofthejoint duringvibrations produced in playing the instrument, but not so soft as tointer i'ere with transmission of vibrations between the body and thestrings. The substance employed is bark, and may be described in thisconnection as sonorons, but relatively more porous than the bridgeproper or the body.

Only these descriptions of bark which are quite elastic and porous andof which the fibers constituting the wood are capable of vibration areto be used. For these purposes cork is not fit, neither is rubber, asboth cork and rubber are too dense and damp or deaden and re tard thevibratiousofthe violin and impair the tones.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is asfollows:

The combination ofa violin-bridge and footpieces a and a light elasticporous bark whose fibers are capable of vibration, substantially as andfor the purposes specified.

.IOIIN KOPP.

Attcst:

A. L. HEnsLINGEu, G. A. W. PAVER.

